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24 nov 2002

The humor of Silliman's poetry: this is more or less the kind of thing I meant (from "Paradise," my favorite of his Alphabet series):

"Five minutes down. Boysenberry yogurt. Alternate spelling. The large bowl of his stomach made for a sloping desk. A mean-spiritdness to the humor of the comic poet. Just us chickens, classicly trained. Now that she's making 25 thou. A jolting bus impossible to write on. What I wish to say, dear reader, take off your blouse. April, turning toward November. Suggested denotation. An old stuffed chair on the sidewalk in the rain. Caution: frequent stops." [pp. 44-45]

This is hilarious both in individual sentences and as a passage. The juxtaposition of two clichés like "just us chickens" and "classically trained" is particularly witty. A cruelly comic sentence about a fat guy sitting behind a desk is juxtaposed to a comment about mean-spirited humor in a comic poet (himself, or someone else?). Frequent stops could be a reference to the bus (cautious, this vehicle makes frequent stops) or to the poet's writing.

Of course, Ron's more "serious" attitude in his blog is equally valid. A different time and occasion requires a different stance.


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